Sakhara 2.3
Sakhara 2.3Bard had run into the problem of being stuck between two machines. Worse, both of them had out massed his wolverine. Then of course while Justin had been running low on ammunition, he hadn't yet been out of ammo. On Bard's other side Lex's Orion had been coming as well... and of course she still had ammunition for her auto cannon and her short range missiles.
That would have been reckless to begin with even without accounting for his lance already being down a man. To that extent the cadets had acquitted themselves well. It was a win, and regardless of whether the enemy's mistakes played into it it was a win.
Well, Bard getting himself caught in the open like that between two heavier mechs wasn't the cause of the exercise loss.
... there were a lot of factors. No single fatal error but a confluence of many missteps, and luck and if he were honest.
"I would remark," Field Marshal Davion began, "That this exercise better reflects the norms of modern combat. Not necessarily the Combine, but the more typical unit engagements of battle." The Combine were, the combine had a preference for turning battles into one on one mech duels when their enemies would agree to such.
"Mmm," He replied scribbling on the back of a sheet of paper that he'd been taking notes on the exercise. The mention of the 280 to Bard had lead into a conversation about the warhammer... and while it hadn't come up the Warhammer had emerged out of the indigenous Davion heavy mech designs. Henry looked up, "That might be, but I think they could do with some further combined arms practice. Realistically outside of very small engagements mechs should operate in conjunction with support from the other combat arms."
He chose not to mention to it, but his Robinson Assault Cluster when fully kitted out with its complete 'mech arrangement would follow this. That was planned, and the initial 'Mech Binary would be Solahma troops probably with Star League era Heavy and Assault 'Mechs maybe not even properly lost Tech models, but regardless the RAC was a massing of vehicles that when added to his existing battle company provided a large combined arms capability. He really appreciated that Hells Horse actually did proper combined arms with infantry supporting doctrine for vehicles.
It wasn't intended as a boast, but the Vice Chancellor hardly willing to let a potential opportunity get by him immediately attempted to leverage the statement.
"The Cluster, Assault Cluster?"
There was a minor round of exchange over what the proper short hand for the unit of armor was, but ultimately the idea went no where. At least it wasn't going anywhere yet. There would need to be further drills with the cadets, and more importantly there needed to be after action debriefs on what had happened.
For that he needed to see the class of cadets, and the Rangers needed to run their own debrief. He exchanged pleasantries with the gunnery instructor, who should have technically been supervising one of the other classes at this point, but given the Robinson's Rangers presence he suspected that class had either been cancelled or postponed for the day. He wanted to of course borrow the 4X, what it would have been called in canon, for Cadet training on the range but since it was a private mech he needed permission.
It had probably gotten around that the 280 engined machine, which in addition to carrying less ammo on account of the larger engine was likely to be Justin Allard's full time machine. That was the next thing on the list to do was to check and see how things were on the Cataphract... and he wasn't really surprised that Justin's first complain was the LRM 5 and its utility. "I'm aware, and yes in practice that proved rather obvious," He replied shaking his head. "The Grasshopper mounts an LRM 5 in a similar configuration, and yes. It provides some utility, but with the way you pilot Justin it may be extraneous." It might even be a liability. Supposedly Grasshopper pilots wouldn't bother refilling their ammo bin during deployments to minimize the risk of internal ammunition explosions. "If you would like I can have a tech pull it. Fit it with alternate equipment." The truth was there were going to be trade offs Medium Lasers would run the machine warm if the machine wasn't standing still, and well jump jets wouldn't meaningfully effect the heat curve.
If Justin hadn't been so naturally talented towards Auto Cannons it might have been easier, and of course if there were lost tech or 'future' tech auto cannons he could justify it would be different. "What about the next excercise are we fighting the cluster?"
"I doubt it. The Chancellor just shot down Colonel Coleridge's attempt at bringing them into the rotation... and that is a bit much. Even just the Heavy Trinary you've been participating with is a significant amount of metal. Deploying them with you or against you, we're not going to do it yet, I won't say that it won't happen, but I'd expect it to be next semester. In the meant time until you make a decision about the LRM 5 you should continue to practice with it, while its on the machine." He made the circle around the others in the class.
Don Juan had done alright. He had made something akin to the mistake that Bard had ultimately made in that he'd launched a direct attack on an enemy lance leader only to get encircled. That was the problem it was emblematic of mech unit leaders he supposed is that one horseman went after another in a sort of tunnel vision or target fixation state. In the real world that would be dangerous, and potentially fatal.
There were others who he needed to ask, but also he would need to review the roms of the simulated battle from the advantage of an outside observer... and potentially for each individual pilot to dissect what had gone right, and what hadn't.
--
Henry glared at the digital display. The angry red clock numbers telling him it was 1:11... he rolled over. Then a few minutes later rolled back... 1:17. Fuck.
There was a minute of grumbling and he sat up. The essence interface updated at midnight, which didn't really matter the basic 25 BV while not something he was going to waste wasn't going to make all that much of a difference either. He swung off the bed and stood up walking forward mentally manipulating the database.
The conversation about the trinary and what a trinary constituted was bugging him. In the top of his 'screen' was total balances, but it delineated into different accounts holding values of c-bill. The davion account was actually being paid in D-Bills but the interface automatically converted those to their value in C-Bills giving a uniform currency value.
He had felt really clever, gratified working out the math needed to buy F 77 fighters and recycle them to get the resources to build factories but the morningstars were a more effective solution. He didn't want to start operating his own HPG sub network though. That wasn't something he wanted to get caught having because he was sure that if it did get out it wouldn't take long before someone showed up to start throwing nukes... and
... and that would be bad was an understatement.
He sighed and flipped on the coffee pot. Some sweetened condensed milk and hot water later and he was sitting at a table. Leaving Sakhara was inevitable, but he had gotten used to being here... he'd settled in, but the people hwas used to were also going to be moving off soon... and in theory he was working towards graduation as well... even though he had a land hold... and now a military force of his own growing.
The New Avalon Institute of Science was due to open up this year. A big inaugural event... he drank down the coffee and ignoring curfew wandered down to the mech bay. He wasn't really surprised Justin was staring at a terminal in front of the Cataphract.
He helped himself to as second not so fancy cup of coffee and deposited another, "So what are you thinking?" He asked the older MechWarrior now that he'd pulled himself back into his skin.
"I mean... the RCT will be on Spica."
"And realistically a new base means that the Capellans will probably try and attack." He remarked, and for a moment his mind flitted to the thought of Thunderbolt missiles, but, "Thats just a given. Don't ge me wrong I think that the Grasshopper is a good heavy battlemech," Did he think it was perfect no. "And I think it perhaps unduly influenced your cataphract version's load out." Justin's next tour of duty would put him beyond his ability to supply specialist ammo of any sort. "I'm going to be blunt from the sound of it House Hasek are a collection of entitled assholes," he stopped to sip his coffee, "They're inefficient and.... I don't know, never mind. Be careful is what I'm saying. Anyway I may be posting to Kathil in a year."
"Who's posted there?
There was apparently a shipyard at Kathil. "The James McKenna Shipyards of the old star league... or what's left of them." Whatever Field Marshal Davion's opinion of the sleaze bags of house Hasek was she still considered it important enough for the realm that Kathil... anf somewhat more grudgingly new syrtis proper that is was good enough for the FedSuns to consider bringing them up. "So I guess if that happens well... look I'll be going to New Avalon first, I'll talk to Ian and then I guess we'll work out my marching orders."
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Notes: If you haven't checked out the junkyard, with regards to the cataphract. The cataphract are a sort of cavalry and thus well I think that as a name is appropriate for both Star League era troops or Hells Horse with variations, just as we will see other 70 tonners Longsword is a good name so there is that.